Fundamental Optical Models (Series in Optics and Optoelectronics)

Fundamental Optical Models addresses the theory of several fundamental optical problems and provides insights into converting theory into computer software. The book brings together a variety of essential theories and modeling tools – some only found in very old research papers – into a single text and helps researchers to understand the theories needed to develop their own software that can be customized for different projects. The book’s nine chapters cover the optics of multilayer thin films, planar waveguides, multilayer conformal thin films on diffraction gratings, the method of lines for modeling more general waveguides, cylindrical waveguides (i.e. optical fibers) with multilayers, fields in the vicinity of the focus of a lens, near field-to-far field transforms, and scattered field finite difference time domain modeling. To aid learning, the book includes a large number of examples and helpful hints in converting theory into computer algorithms.

This book is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students studying electromagnetism and optics, as well as industrial researchers.

Key Features:

• Addresses the critical gap between optical theory and practical implementation.
• Brings together a variety of fundamental optical theories and modeling tools that are often scattered across very old research papers and difficult-to-find sources.
• Includes numerous examples and helpful hints from a distinguished industrial physicist.

William A. Challener, Ph.D., is an industrial physicist. After completing his doctorate in physics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1983, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for two years studying the far infrared properties of various materials. Following that, he joined 3M to conduct research in rewritable optical data storage where he worked for eleven years. In the Imation spin-off from 3M, he continued his research for four years in the application of surface plasmon physics to novel gas and biosensors. Transferring to the Seagate research center, he worked for nine years on perhaps his most commercially successful endeavor where he invented the lollipop near field transducer and the planar solid immersion lens that led to the first demonstration of heat-assisted magnetic recording. He was awarded the International Storage Industry Consortium technical achievement award in 2007 and was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2013. He completed his research career at General Electric, working on a variety of projects involving fiber optics, optical sensors, and quantum optics, and retired after ten years during the covid pandemic. He has received 94 U.S. patents and authored or co-authored about 60 journal articles and a text on surface plasmon physics. He currently develops optical modeling software for his company, Junonia Photonics, and is a part-time consultant.